speaker-0: You're listening to O Stitch, the podcast where needlepoint, creativity, and real conversation come together. I'm Natasha Sewell.

speaker-1: And I'm Alansa Riddle. You don't have to be a needle pointer to be here, but you might leave as one.

speaker-0: Okay, we are actually doing this.

speaker-1: I cannot believe it, but we're doing this. I just want people to know that I got a really long string of texts one afternoon and somehow now I ended up on a podcast.

speaker-0: Yep, episode one. I just Because I have a lot of really, really good ideas.

speaker-1: You have a lot of good ideas.

speaker-0: Yeah. For sure. ⁓

speaker-1: Welcome to O Stitch, everyone. Buckle up.

speaker-0: Okay, we are so happy that you guys are here. Thank you for listening to our first episode. Every episode is gonna be a little different. It's gonna be a combination of needlepoint and some real life. Yeah, all of the above. And we are gonna start with our current whips. You wanna tell Alansa everyone what a whip is, in case you don't know?

speaker-1: Conversations. Yes, so for those who aren't super needlepoint savvy yet, we're gonna get there. But a whip is a work in progress. So this is something that you're working on right now in your needlepoint stash. So that's what we're gonna share.

speaker-0: And if you ever get on like Needlepoint TikTok or Instagram, a lot of people share their whip Wednesdays. That's literally a thing. So, you know, but we're we're gonna share them today. Who wants to go first?

speaker-1: I'll go first if you want. Great. I am stitching. This is a canvas that is on our website right now, but it is Cheers. It is three adorable drinks: a espresso martini, a dirty martini, and a Paloma. I love this so much. And it's been really fun to stitch. The back, I don't, you know, the backgrounds get a little boring after a while, but I ⁓ anyway, I took it to my doctor's appointment this morning. It was fun.

speaker-0: Okay.

speaker-1: So I'm getting there slowly with the background. I'm doing a corduray skit stitch, which is kind of fun. And it

speaker-0: Looks great. I love the corduroy stitch on that, but I'm can see i it's when you're stitching with the same color. It's the same color. That's the problem. That's when it starts getting boring. But the stitch is looks amazing.

speaker-1: It's really pretty and I'm using silk for the background, which is fun to stitch. It's really smooth. And I'm gonna put this in an acrylic tray, which I think will be so cute. It's kind of the size. I think cocktail napkins would fit in it or I don't know. Anyway, I'm working on that. I also have a random one that I'm also working on because I always usually have two that I got at my L and S, which is my local needlepoint store. And it is this really pretty cross.

speaker-0: ⁓ that is beautiful. ⁓ I love that so much.

speaker-1: and and it's pretty colours and I don't know, I just really liked it, so also been working on that one. So those are my two.

speaker-0: Awesome. So I have two also. One is actually kind of finished. It was a really quick stitch. It is something that we currently have on our website. It's love. And June is I know. Isn't it really cute? It was a really fun stitch. I love the design you did, Alansa. I love the rainbow heart. it was it was a fun stitch. Now listen, I was gonna try to do a fun background stitch for sure.

speaker-1: Cute. I love this one.

speaker-0: But it is small, so doing a background stitch is mm is easier but hard on this sort of thing. And also I just wanted that rainbow heart to shine. So

speaker-1: Yeah. It's really cute. What are you gonna do with it, do you think? I

speaker-0: No, I think it would be a really cute bag charm, honestly. Or the other thought I have was making it into a magnet. Have you seen how people finish them and put a magnet in? So it's like two cookies put together, kinda looks like an ornament, but not with the, you know, hanger. And ⁓ put a magnet. So I think it could be a really cute magnet.

speaker-1: It would be really cute on a fridge. Yeah. Super cute.

speaker-0: Yeah. Right. Super cute. And then I also have multiple stitches going at once, always. And I am working on the bug. It is all type of I can I can I can unwind. We are not fans of stretcher bars.

speaker-1: We don't do it. I don't like it.

speaker-0: I no, I don't like it either. And I know I'm sure there are many people who are shaken.

speaker-1: think we're in the minority I think probably the majority of people like a stretcher bar. I don't like the constri it's too constricted. I can't I don't know.

speaker-0: No, I I just don't love it. I don't love a stretcher bar and so I roll and I use the finishing clips to hold my roll in place. But this has been so much fun to do, the bug canvas. Doesn't it look good? It looks really

speaker-1: Looks really good. So cute.

speaker-0: And you can see that I'm just doing basket weave in the background. Again, I was gonna do a fun stitch, but I tried a fun stitch and I thought it took away from the shape. So went back to good old basket weave, but again, boring background. So

speaker-1: And what are you gonna do with that one, do you know? Yeah.

speaker-0: I'm gonna frame it. It's gonna be framed and I might double mat it. And I don't know. I I think I shared this maybe in one of our newsletters. I can share it again on social media and maybe we'll put it in the show notes. But there is someone on Instagram or TikTok or somewhere that is showed covering the mat and the frame all in the same fabric or wallpaper or some people use tissue paper. And so it's It's pretty cool. So I'm thinking if I am gonna get a little adventuresome, I might do that, just to mix stuff up and make it make it kinda fun, right?

speaker-1: I love that idea. That's super cute.

speaker-0: Yeah, so we we will see. So that is what we are currently stitching right now. That is gonna be part of every episode. Share your whips with us. We would love to see what you're stitching. And we also wanted to talk a little bit about how this whole Georgie and Lottie thing came to be, right?

speaker-1: Yeah. It's a story.

speaker-0: It is a story. So it goes back to gosh, over twenty eight years ago when I started needlepointing, honestly. And I picked it up. I was a young mom and none of my friends had kids. And I just ha found myself having like a fair amount of free time during naps and whatever. I was also busy raising a baby, but you know how it goes. And so I was I d I honestly think I was in Middleburg, Virginia randomly on like a day trip. Don't know. And picked up a needlepoint kit. It was Peter Rabbit and it was big. Like I wanna say it was like this big. That was a very industrious project to take on as my first project, but I knew nothing else. It came kitted, it was all wool wool thread, and I stitched it and I stitched a couple other things. I don't have any of them anymore, which makes me a little bit sad, you know.

speaker-1: Yeah, that's a bummer. My sister and I both are purgers. We like to clean things out and sometimes we regret it down the road, but overall not. But that that might be a regret that you got.

speaker-0: That's probably a regret. I'm sure it got purged during a move. There's no question. So ⁓ I started needlepointing then and then life got busy. I had more kids. We moved, like all of the things, and I didn't needlepoint for a really, really long time. Like long time. And then COVID happened. The world feels like at times it's on fire. And I was so stressed. Right. I mean, we spent a lot of time talking about how our anxiety was kind of like through the roof. And I was seeing a therapist, I was on medication, doing all the things, but what was adding to the stress was my scrolling constantly, just needless scrolling, like no purpose, just scrolling the internet, whether it was social media or whatever. So I decided I need to do something with my hands and I started back up needle pointing. Yep. And I was obsessed. And then fast forward I reached out to my sister, who is an artist. You wanna talk about that?

speaker-1: ⁓ yeah, so I have a bachelor's of fine art and I was in my past life an interior designer commercially and then had kids and continued to paint or do some sort of creative outlet constantly. I mean I never stopped sort of creating something. And so all of a sudden I was getting a lot of TikToks of how to paint canvases. I don't even think I had a TikTok account at that point. point. But anyway, she was sending me a lot of things to look at.

speaker-0: Because when you have a sister who's an artist and you know she could do this, because I am not that kind of artist, I was like, Why is she not doing this? She has the most creative, best ideas. And so this then we were out in California. I have a house in California. We were out there building a banquet for my dining room. No joke. We can do it all, right? And

speaker-1: Project.

speaker-0: It was a fun project. It turned out really well. Mm-hmm. And while we were there, Georgie and Lottie was hatched. The whole idea. The whole business, right?

speaker-1: Yep.

speaker-0: It was born and yeah.

speaker-1: Yeah, so she brings the business and I bring the creative.

speaker-0: Yeah. And for a while I was running two businesses. I had a photography business for thirteen plus years. So I know how to run a business, sort of, I hope. Yeah. So we are we're doing this. And the podcast came about because I was at a conference and I just all these light bulbs started going off. I kept listening to these speakers and I was actually there for photography. I had an education part of my photography business and all these light bulbs started going off. And as Alonsa said, literally I must have sent her seventy texts, like in rapid succession because I had all these ideas.

speaker-1: She is not exaggerating. I have screenshots.

speaker-0: Ye yeah, it was it was a lot of text. And anyway, I told her we were doing a podcast and that is how this podcast was born.

speaker-1: And here we are, and we have such big plans for Georgie and Lottie.

speaker-0: And ⁓ O Stitch is definitely part of it, right? Yay. Yep. Yay. So every episode we are gonna do something called Beyond the Canvas. And it might be a hot take. It might be something that's going on in our lives or in the world in general. It just depends. A little pop culture, you never know. We might throw that in. We're both huge Swifties. So you know, the this wedding is pending. Soon. So you never know. You might get a little tailor content. But this time we are going to kind of talk about our latest obsessions. And why don't you go first, Alansa?

speaker-1: My latest obsession is batch prepping my lunches on Sunday. I know it sounds super weird, but it is so nice in the morning to just open your fridge and grab your lunch and go. So I usually prep some sort of salad. I have these great jars that fit All the things, the lettuce, the all the things, and then on the top is like a separate little thing for the dressing, so nothing gets soggy. But it's all in one jar, so all I have to do is grab the jar and go. which is really nice. I also have some little jars. Sometimes I do overnight oats for breakfast too, so then I just grab both and go. So my current obsession is just meal prepping on Sundays. I do love to cook. That's like one of my other

speaker-0: She's also an amazing cook. I mean, there's kind of Alonsa can do it all, but she's an amazing cook. She's the type of cook that will go into her pantry, see what she has, grab like four things, and create a gourmet meal out of it. I am not that kind of cook. I am a re follow a recipe and even with the recipe, good luck.

speaker-1: I was in my office the other day and somebody was saying that she eats to live and I was like, ⁓ weird. I definitely live to eat. I love food. I love cooking food. I love cooking for other people. It brings me a lot of joy. So anyway, that is my newest sort of obsession is just prepping.

speaker-0: That's awesome. And my newest sort of obsession, I would say it's been going on for maybe six months, is having fun getting dressed. I think a lot of people can probably understand that when you have kids, like you're always on the back burner and you never really put the effort into yourself. Maybe some people do. Kudos to you. But I did not. I spent a lot of time in like Yoga pants, jeans, t-shirt, which there was nothing wrong with, although I was not doing yoga, let's clarify. But so I recently have I've worked with a stylist, Betsy. She's amazing. We will link her in the show notes, but also I just Betsy has taught me how to dress for my body. Everybody has parts of their body they don't love. Mine happened to be hips and butt. I was blessed, I guess some might say. And so dressing for my body type and having fun with color and layering things and textures and patterns and all those things. So that's my current obsession, kind of taking the time to put together fun outfits.

speaker-1: You have some good clothes too. And occasionally she cleans out her closet and I get to reap the benefits of that.

speaker-0: Accurate. Accurate. And I probably need to do a big closet clean out again. Because I also Alonso knows this about me. I'm not good at returning stuff. No, I mean I order stuff and then the thought of having to return it gives me hives. I kid you not, unless it's an easy return. So, there's that.

speaker-1: What's an easy return? Just like a local store down the street? Is that an

speaker-0: Also down the street or like the labels included. Like I don't have to do any extra steps, but ⁓ it's like somet and I'll be honest, I return expensive things. If they don't work, please do not get me wrong. I'm talking about cheaper things, less expensive things that and then sometimes I'm like, well, maybe I'll wear it, even though I well no, I will not. So ⁓ yeah, I need to get better about that. That's really a waste of money, honestly.

speaker-1: Well Yeah. I I I'm gonna say don't get rid of that 'cause I enjoy getting those clothes. So I'm not gonna push you in that direction, but whatever.

speaker-0: I gotcha. I gotcha. I mean, because I definitely have clothes right now in my closet that still have tags that I've not worn and that I'm like, will I wear this? ⁓ probably not. But I'm trying to be much more intentional with my shopping too. That's part of getting, you know, really putting effort into getting dressed is I intentionally purchase stuff. Betsy's big philosophy, which is a super fun one, is if you cannot find three ways to wear something, do not buy it.

speaker-1: That's a good one. Okay. What's your favorite store right now to buy from? Do you have one?

speaker-0: Gosh, I don't know that I have a favorite. Cezanne just reopened in Georgetown in DC down the street from me, and they have such beautiful things. It's fun just to like peruse. I can't say I've bought anything necessarily. Actually, I think this top is from them. But I haven't bought a ton of stuff from them recently. But they do have really pretty like prints and textures. They have pretty textures in their in their items. So I do really enjoy that. But

speaker-1: Yeah. Details.

speaker-0: But I also like currently am wearing Gap Factory jeans. So I mean, high low. Yeah, high low. Have fun with it, right?

speaker-1: You're great. Mm-hmm, definitely.

speaker-0: For sure, for sure. So before we go, we want to share a couple of things with you. First, if you are brand new to Needlepoint or you've been curious but didn't know where to start, we made something just for you. It's a free beginner video playlist with real video tutorials. And you can grab it at Georgie and Lottie.com slash video dash playlist, which don't worry. We will put it in the show notes. but it is a great way to learn how to get started needlepointing. It is your basic stitches. It is, I mean, it starts with literally how to fiddle. ⁓ so go check it out.

speaker-1: Yes, check that out. And second, since you're here and you're new and we appreciate you showing up for this episode one, use code OSTitch10 at checkout for 10% off your first order. That's S T I T C H one Zero. Also in the show notes, so you don't have to ⁓ grab a pen and write that down. It'll be down in the show notes.

speaker-0: We really, really want you to stitch something. So we're trying to make this as easy as possible and to give you all the tools that you need to start stitching right away.

speaker-1: Yeah, check out our amazing kits on georgieandladdie.com.

speaker-0: Thank you so much. Thanks so much for listening to O Stitch, the podcast where Needlepoint meets real life.

speaker-1: This podcast is brought to you by Georgie and Lottie. Whether you're looking for your next canvas, stitching, inspiration, or a community that loves Needlepoint as much as we do, we'd love to have you join us.

speaker-0: You can explore canvases, products, and more at GeorgieandLottie.com.

speaker-1: Until next time, happy stitching!